You are here

New Bill Would Protect Federal Telework from ‘Rollback’

House Democrats Gerry Connolly and John Sarbanes want to save federal telework. The two introduced a new bill — the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act — to the House on Thursday in a bid to require that agencies continue to support expanded teleworking opportunities moving forward. The bill is a direct response to new policies at the Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture, both of which recently announced that they are shrinking employee telework availability from four days a week to just one. The decisions drew ire from employees and concern about what the influx of commuters could mean for infrastructure in the D.C. area. Connolly, of Virginia, and Sarbanes, of Maryland, both serve large populations of federal workers who could be affected by receding telework policies…. “We must push back against the Trump Administration’s repeated attacks on federal telework programs, which make our government work better for the American people,” Sarbanes, who also authored the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, said in a statement.